Relaxed Homeschooling, Life, and Random Thoughts

Where are we at now...

2011-11-03T07:17:00.003-05:00

It's been almost three years since I last blogged. What can I say? Life happens and sometimes people reach a point where they shut themselves down. My husband and I were having severe marital problems but we're doing great now and have been for awhile. After we saved our marriage I just didn't feel inclined to blog. Thankfully, I'm ready to start anew. :-)

We never stopped home educating our children and we follow the unschooling model: No grades, no tests, no forced lessons.

Zachary desired to go to college so he chose to take three online classes with Florida Virtual School last year to see how he would do with structure, tests, assignments, and being taught. Now? Well, he's enrolled at Pensacola State College under their dual enrollment program. He receives college and high school credits in his classes. He really enjoys going and is doing wonderfully! I do not judge a home educated child's success on whether they go to college or not, but am proud of him for following his own path.

Brooke is still an extremely creative and active child. How can I sum her up? I really can't because her world encompasses so many things! She is a writer, photographer, singer/song writer, guitarist, artist, photo-shopper, vegetarian, and movie maker. Not a day goes by that she isn't engaged in one or more of what she's passionate about. She's also self-teaching herself math, science, and history from regular and text books in case she wants to go to college someday. Brooke also enjoys Girl Scouts and going to our home school co-op.

I do not have much more to say today other than unschooling truly does work. No, they weren't brought up with textbook knowledge like their schooled peers, but they are indeed learning--it's of their own volition though.

Fun on a Karaoke Site...

2009-03-02T13:36:00.003-06:00

My mother introduced us to SingSnap.com, a karaoke site online, and we've been having a BLAST! Here is a song by Brooke and the other two are by me. We haven't bought the "Gold Membership" so these are in mono--sorry I come in and out on Linger but my voice overpowers the microphone so I was standing back about five feet, if I'm too close, the song gets distorted.

Brooke's is first, she is singing Blue on Black by The Kenny Wayne Sheppard Band...she whips out her pony tail about half way through--too cute!

That said, here we are....

Passionate About Business, Real Estate and Stocks--Zak's Reading List

2009-03-02T06:29:00.004-06:00

Our fourteen year old son Zachary loves reading about business, real estate, stocks and finances. In fact, he has a "virtual portfolio" with "real time" stock purchases. I cannot think of the site he's on but they give new members a few thousand virtual dollars to invest in stocks--he made thousands in virtual profits. He even took what he learned there and purchased a stock on his own--and, he lost some money when his gold stock tanked but not all of it, thank goodness. :-)

Below are a few books that he read over about a one month period and that he still talks about --he's retained every ounce of knowledge learned from these books. There were days that he'd be in his room or on the back porch reading for eight hours or more, unless he went to a friends or took a break, and some of those days we barely saw him unless he was eating or popped out to say, "Hi." LOL

If You Want to Be Rich and Happy, Don't Go to School by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Why We Want You to be Rich by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Donald Trump

Never Give Up by Donald Trump

The Art of the Comeback by Donald Trum

The Best Real Estate Advice I've Ever Received by Donald Trump

How to Be Rich by Donald Trump

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The Richest Man in Babylon by George Samuel Clason

Real Estate Riches by Dolf de Roos

He loves discussing everything he's learned, as well as what he agrees and disagrees with--some of which is over my head but not my husbands. All of those books led him to follow the bailout hearings on CSPAN with the big three car manufacturer's--I NEVER watch CSPAN as an adult and never would have done so as a kid.

Although he hasn't read a financial book in awhile, he still frequents financial websites and continues to learn. I forgot to mention that he wants to have some responsibility when it comes to doing the family bills--which is perfectly fine with us as it will help him see where the money goes each week. :-)

10 Year Old Daughter First Sewing Projects

2008-11-14T11:44:00.003-06:00

My mother-in-law moved down here from Virgina a couple of months ago and since then, the children have been relishing every moment of their time with her. Our youngest, age 10, has never sewn or used a sewing machine in her entire life.

B and her grandmother have frequented Jo Ann Fabrics over the past couple of weeks. Last week dd used a sewing machine to create a stuffed moose, everything but the antlers, and last night she used the sewing machine to create the kitten dress for stuffed cat that her grandmother made a couple of years ago.

Under the care and tutelage of a wonderful grandma, my 10 year old daughter is able to create what I'm not able too at age 38. I can definitely see her creating an online store featuring clothes for stuffed animals! :-)

Our son's dramatic change towards learning...

2008-05-16T18:17:00.001-05:00

When we pulled Zak out of school over five and one half years ago he hated learning, reading, writing, and all things of a *schooly* nature. His private and public schooled days were filled with getting up early and having so much homework that he barely had time to spend with family, let alone be a child. Although he managed B's and C's, it was a struggle that came only as a result of having entire days spent studying. So, what did I do when we first started home schooling him? I tried to do "school at home". That method works for some and I do not personally find myself in the position to condemn how anyone home schools their child, but it was definitely not for us.

After practically being angry with him for not trying "hard enough" and after every day being a battle for the first several months, I decided it best for me to learn more regarding how children learn and why some are resistant. I delved into just about every philosophy out there and came to the conclusion that a relaxed and eclectic home education atmosphere would be best. When I started to let go of the mainstream thinking about how children should be educated and allowed freedom to become a stronghold, changes began. Me letting go did not happen right away as we went from traditional schooling, to school at home,to unit study based education, to Charlotte Mason Method (we still implement quite a few of her principles), unschooling, and often times back and forth.

Zak's first claim to having freedom in learning happened when he was nine years old and he spent over three months studying Egypt. How wonderful, but then after that three months was finished he grew tired of studying Egypt and remained in limbo for quite a time. Of course, I panicked and started to force full learning again but a few months later he was into learning the Greek alphabet. He spent weeks studying Greek and learning how to annunciate the letters...he still remembers both his Greek and Egypt self-studies. After I allowed the Harry Potter books into our home, he read the first four books in just a few months...if he wanted to read them all day, I let him read all day. Whenever he has been interested in a subject of his choice that he is really passionate about, I've let him go for as long as he wanted. IOW, I've never said, "Okay Zak, you can only study Greek/Egypt until 9:30, time for you to read about something you care nothing of because the kids at school who are your age are learning this."

Zak used to struggle with mathematics. I totally backed off on this for quite awhile until Donnie said, "Sandy, he has to know how to do math. Take your time and go slow, make sure he understands before moving along to the next lesson, but I want him doing math." So, as per Donnie's request, we implemented math into our day. ***Keep in mind that my hubby was not studied about learning philosophies and so I felt differently and was not worried about Zak and math*** He already knew how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide but fractions were his "enemy", lol. Out of the blue about a year and a half ago, still not knowing how to do fractions he asked me if he could learn algebra. "What?! But you do not even know your fractions yet." Ah, stop me right there because that is schoolish thinking at its finest...you can't move on until after you've learned this concept. So, I purchased an algebra curriculum and you know what? He understood it. The reason is because algebra made sense to him; it is concrete and not abstract. We ran into problems later in the course, due to the curriculum not coming with an extensive teaching manual or crystal clear instructions and chose to go with [i]Saxon Math[/i]. Zak has literally blown me away; Geometry, fractions, algebra, story problems, mental math, and more he has learned by self-study. Zak has a positive attitude towards math and if and when he needs help, we are just a "Mom/Dad" away.

Lately he has taken interest in the military and he spends hours learning about careers available in the Navy, college requirements for being an officer, military history, ship disasters and umpteen other things. Wow, just wow! I am 38 years old, ex-Navy, and he already knows more than I ever knew. And, guess what famous artist he was inspired to learn about after reading about submarines yesterday...DaVinci; he just finished reading two chapters of book about this wonderful, talented, and amazing artist and he enjoyed doing so.

Science has always been an interest of his but not when it comes to doing experiments, though he will do them...it is just that normally, because he is a logical thinker, he usually knows the results by simply thinking things through. He loves learning about planets, black holes, the big bang, and retains damn near anything he's learned from reading or watching educational shows about science...unlike his mother who still falls asleep. ;-) My passion for science is more along nature: plants, flowers, trees, mammals, reptiles, etc.

I'm so proud of him, not for reasons you may think though...I'm proud of him because he has taken his own life into his own hands. I'm proud of him for knowing that he is responsible for his life. I'm proud of him for setting goals, his top two being dual enrollment into our local college at age 16 and joining the Navy as an officer (and I would still be proud if he were to change his mind because he will work at achieving any goal(s) he sets for himself). I'm even more proud that his decisions and "go for it" attitude have not come because we have forced competitive sports, or pushed college (like many parents do...to each their own) as if it is "the" only way to go in life.

Zak is a wonderful, intelligent, kind (okay, his little sister may beg to differ on some of these things, lol), caring, considerate, strong, thoughtful, respectful, and well-balanced human being. I believe that there is nothing he isn't capable of doing should he set his heart and mind upon it. Now, if only I could encourage him to play the guitar regularly...he knows that he's brought tears to my eyes because his *originals* are so beautiful on the acoustic guitar, lol, maybe that is why he doesn't play. :-)

My Helium.Com Article: Home Schooling Socialization Solutions

2008-05-04T05:53:00.000-05:00

My pseudonym over at helium is Alexia Wincorescholl, IOW, this is not a plagiarized article. However, I have done a bit of editing before posting here.

One must wonder whether or not people research before forming their opinions of home schoolers and socialization...which, in my not so humble opinion is a non-issue. Are there no shy children, weirdos, children who do not interact well with strangers, children who do not interact well with their peers, and other children in public or private schools? We can safely assume, by way of the experience of having gone to school as children and teens ourselves (unless you were home schooled that is), that there are many children in public schools who fit those characteristics. Most children in school fall somewhere in between the characteristics in question and the popular crowd and this is close to how it is throughout the rest of society as well; you have extreme introverts and extreme extroverts but most of us fall in the middle.

When people comment on others being socially inept, what exactly does that mean? What if the child with social problems is kind, honest, loving, giving and caring....what is wrong with him/her and do you think they will never talk to anyone, ever? Keep in mind that many children like this were/are often emotionally traumatized their entire childhood by being called names like "Geek," "Nerd," "Techy." What if the child with no social problems is arrogant, rude, dishonest, self-centered (and are often the types to name-call those who do not fit into their little cliques)...what exactly is so special about them? Does not character count for something when it comes to functioning socially in society?

The fact is...everyone is different; we are human beings, not robots. Whether one goes to school or is home schooled does not make a difference on their personalities or if they are introverted, extroverted, or somewhere in between. We have two children; our thirteen year-old son has been home educated since the end of his third grade year and our ten year-old daughter has never been to school. Both of our children have no problem interacting with their peers, younger children, teens, adults, or the elderly. When we go to stores, the bank, gas station...both (gasp) say, "Hello" to the employees and often they converse with them as well. When they meet children and/or people they do not know...they do not stand shaking and sweating in the corner with their hearts racing because they are *afraid* of not knowing how to engage in conversation or play with other children. It did not take being in a classroom all day with one teacher and 20+ peers to learn how to be social or how to act in our society.

Even though our son went to school from Pre-K through Third Grade, it is our daughter who has the more outgoing personality and not our son; he is more the laid back slightly shy type of guy...but he still speaks to those he does not know whether other children or adults. Our daughter smiles and greets everyone and is quick to strike up conversations. You would not believe the amount of compliments my husband and I have received on how respectful our children are, how they are good listeners, and good debaters...it continues to blow us both out of the water. Aren't those qualities of which home school naysayers claim they should be having problems with? According to them, should not our children be able to do those things? You sure would think so, based on their opinions. Here is the kicker...unlike many other home schoolers, our children are not involved in any activities outside of meeting with our home school group (consisting of various races, Christians, Agnostics, Atheists, Deists, etc.) once a week and seeing their friends on a regular basis.

What have we done as their parents to cause such a *phenomenon* when it comes to enhancing their socialization skills? We have lived life just like people have been doing since humans came into existence thousands of years ago and long before compulsory schooling came into existence. Our children go places with us and/or with others. They see how we relate to everyone around in the world both in and outside of our home including neighbors, friends, strangers, and employees.

We do not *shelter* our children from the rest of society either. When I typed this article a couple of weeks ago, our ten year-old daughter was over eight hours away at Disney World with her best friend and family having the time of her life. Last year our children flew to Michigan to visit their grandparents in the northern and central part of the state...alone. Whilst up there, they made friends with children they have never even heard mention of before and my mother (who at one time had the same misconceptions of socialization and home schoolers) said that our children were usually the first ones to introduce themselves. Her friends could not believe that our children were home schooled because of their social skills...many pointed out their exemplary behavior as well.

Our daughter was born with one of her pinkie-toes shaped like a little heart (it looks as though the bone "split") and it is webbed to the fourth toe; we used to tell her that it would help her run faster...and this child can run! [smile] About a year and a half ago, she was in a gymnastics class and upon introduction to her classmates, she immediately showed everyone her *special* pinkie-toe. Quite a few of the girls replied, "Cool" and others just sort of grimaced, however, our daughter did not care. You see, she is confident in herself and does not care what others think so the grimaces did not bother her at all because it was their problem, not hers. She made many friends but grew bored with gymnastics so decided not to go anymore; right now she is contemplating reentering the program.

Drugs are prevalent in our neighborhood and that includes amongst teens as well and a few of them are on our street. Just because we *home school* does not mean that our children are locked up and have their friends picked out by mom and dad. There were a few boys that he would spend time taking bike rides, playing football and basketball, playing video games, going down to the park, and just standing around shooting the bull with. My husband and I knew these other boys have been involved with drugs, alcohol, and a couple incidences of vandalism but we trusted our son to determine whether or not to hang out with them....he chose not to. Our son would rather have one or two good friends than go against his nature to fit in just to have more friends. One day, the guys asked him to go canoing on the bay across from our home and we told him that he could go and were surprised only to have him come home a few minutes later. Of course we asked the inevitable question, "Why are you back so soon?" He replied, "I don't want to hang out with them anymore. I went down there hoping to go out on the bay but they wanted to smoke marijuana and canoe at the same time. I have seen how they act when they are doped up and decided not to be a part of it." He has not hung out with them since; he enjoys hanging out with his friends who choose not participate in *delinquent* activities.

Most home schoolers, albeit there may be a few with other than good intentions, want what is best for their children. We are not keeping our children home for some secret mission ensuring they do not know what to do once they reach adulthood, and that, I can promise you.

Supportive Parenting, Education, Motivation

2008-05-04T05:51:00.000-05:00

Supportive Parenting, Education, Motivation

Whether one chooses to be a street sweeper or chooses to be a biologist, if a person is truly motivated to do something they love, they really can be anything they want (within reason).

I spoke with my friend Marlene whose younger sister, 25, is graduating from college in a month or two. Her sister's passion is biology. While taking college courses over the past few years, she found it hard to maintain a 2.8 or above grade average, which the college reacted by giving her the almighty boot. Instead of giving up, she went back to community college to bring up her grades in order to try again for a Bachelor's Degree in biology; it took two times of going back to community college but she has done it, she will now be receiving her Bachelor's Degree in Biology. She had to pay for college on her own and took on several jobs in order to finish, she did whatever it took to become what she wanted to be. I find her motivation and drive very admirable. What if she would've given up after being kicked out the first time? I suppose she'd be working at a job she could tolerate or hate just to make it through life like so many other Americans.

One of my other friends has a daughter graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in History this Saturday...her daughter, age 20, was completely unschooled until age 16 when she chose to enroll in our local community college's dual enrollment program. To be completely unschooled means that her daughter never once had any lesson forced upon her for her entire childhood, she was allowed to do she wanted which happened to be a lot of reading and writing and playing. Even though her math skills fell a bit short, the college had a basic math program that enabled her to "catch up", and though she did not know a lot of grammatical terms, she flew through English classes as well. Her passion is history and next she wants to go for a Masters Degree. What an amazing young lady!

Two girls who were educated at opposite ends of the spectrum, their commonalities? Supportive parents and motivation. I am proud of both of them, however...

I am not one who equates graduating from college as THE end all, be all of *success*, but rather I equate *success* on a per person basis. Money may make life easier but it does not always equal happiness. Whether one goes to college or enters the military, if they are a stay at home mom or a waitress, a street sweeper or a doctor, so long as they are happy, IMO, they have achieved success.

I think it is crucial for parents not to be dream/passion killers; we can offer up our $.02 but we need to tread carefully when it comes to what our children are motivated to do when they are older. If the world is against them, making them feel unworthy and/or stupid, we should be right there telling them, "You can BE whatever you want to be, do not allow others to ruin your self-esteem".

One thing our society has done over time, and that I feel needs to be changed, is sometimes we tend to want our children to soooo badly go to college, that we pressure them into going and if they don't, not only do they feel like failures in the eyes of their parents but failures to themselves. Teenagers are not stupid, they know college is there should they CHOOSE to go. There are a lot of people I know who had such a strong distaste left over via traditional education that the last thing they wanted to do was go for another four years once they reach the age of 18. Many of these people have gone back in their 30's and 40's and they are doing wonderfully! Most are surprised to have learned that college is more about choosing what you want to learn rather than being forced to learn a bunch of things in which you have absolutely no interest. This is not to say that the college attendee never has to do anything they don't want to BUT if their passion outweighs their loathing of a certain subject, it won't matter, they will do whatever it takes in order to graduate in their chosen field of study.

What about the child who does not choose to go to college? Be supportive anyway, maybe they'd be happier in a non-college orientated field. Encouraging them and letting them know that if they are not happy they can switch jobs, start their own business, etc., you are doing your job.

Summer Vacation: Things to do with your children

2008-05-03T05:55:00.000-05:00

IMO, the reason many children get bored easily and many parents find themselves at a loss when it comes to their children being on school break is because we have grown accustomed to thinking that putting them in this/that/or the other is a must and that we are *bad* parents for not doing so. That being said....it is OKAY for your children to be with you the majority of time this summer. It is OKAY for your children not to have a schedule whether it be it play dates or a group activity...you are not alone.

And now...the list:

1)Get up early and watch the sun come up.

2)Stay up late and watch the sun go down.

3)Take a walk everyday with your child(ren) even if just for ten minutes.

4)Let them read for hours if they so desire.

5)Head to the library for story time.

6)Go to a place full of various types of nature and allow your children to take pictures of anything and everything. Suggest that they write a story (and please, do not be critical of spelling and grammar errors...just fix them yourself and print it off on the computer or something so they are able to view it in its proper form) about what interested them most. If your child(ren) are too young to write you could have them dictate their thoughts to you.

7)Find a nearby free museum.

8)Bake and cook... a lot! This helps children not only be creative but also reinforces/introduces fraction concepts. A great book is called "Food Art" and it is geared toward younger children and has difficulty levels throughout.

9)Make a small garden together and let them choose the flowers to go into it.

10)Go to the vast array of science sites online and do a weekly and inexpensive or no cost science experiment.

11)Lie on the grass and watch the clouds drifting by.

12)For older children, head to a park with lots of trees and let the climb away.

13)Bike ride through the neighborhood, if it is safe.

14)Linger at the grocery store and do not rush it. Let younger children weigh and help pick out fruits and other goods. Hand your teen $20 and a small list and ask them to find the best value and they can keep whatever is left from the $20.

15)Visit some elderly people in your neighborhood. ***THIS IS NEEDED*** Just the other day we were walking our dog and stopped in to visit an elderly man in our neighborhood whose wife died last year, they had been married for 67 years. He said to me, "Sandy, I am so glad that you all stopped by. Last year, a couple of weeks after my wife died I almost killed myself (he told me that God stopped him). You have to understand that I spent every morning with her for 67 years reading the paper and drinking coffee and then she was gone. I walked to the end of my dock and considered killing myself; I was going to leave my cane there so that everyone would know what happened. Every day after she died, I hoped that someone would knock on my door and visit me." Crying or Very sad We are going to make a visit to him regularly from now on. The kids have visited him on their own before but it was sporadic in nature. Many elderly feel like our neighbor, especially if they have been married for decades. Please, please stop in and visit even if just for a few minutes once or more a week...you can truly make their day!

16)Capture a few insects and do a small study. Start a butterfly garden or ant farm.

17)Draw and/or paint. Do not worry about your driveway...let younger children use that sidewalk chalk or paint.

18)Have an all movie day!

19)Listen to all kinds of music and dance around the house. Another idea here would be to have a THEME week! If you are fortunate enough to have XM or Satellite radio put on the World Zone types or go to the library and borrow a CD. Gear your whole week around an entire country. Try some new dishes. Make paper plate masks of the animals in the country you are visiting. Watch a movie or have books around geared towards that country. Base crafts around the culture you are studying as well. Also, you could make up a passport and travel log and then at the end of summer check out every country you’ve *visited*.

20)Let your little ones and older ones help around the house.

21)Build with legos or geo-magnets.

22)Put seedlings in eggshells with some dirt and watch them grow.

23) If your spouse has a lunch hour, meet them up at the closest park or picnic bench once each week.

24) Have a backwards day! Eat dinner for breakfast, breakfast for lunch, lunch for supper and allow dessert to be eaten first.

25) Allow teens to have a weekly/bi-weekly/or monthly "teen day" and have their friends over for the day and/or night. The *condition* could be that they are responsible for cleaning up when it is all over.

26) Your teen could perhaps could find an older person who shares their passion and *apprentice* under them for the summer, or volunteer within an area that they would enjoy.

27) Have an all day video game day and actually play the games with your teen and/or child(ren) whether you like the game or not.

28) Have a back yard camp-out.

29) If you have more than one child, pick twice a month to where one parent does something ALONE with each of them. It is good for children to do something just with Dad or just with Mom without their sibling(s).

30) Find out what your teens passion is and do everything you can to help them get what they need in order to get started on that course (within reason and of course, affordable).

31) Save for a canoe trip.

32) Go fishing.

33) Go for a hike.

34) Take a day trip to the caves in Merriam.

35) Saturday or Sunday bowling. Many places have inexpensive prices on weekend mornings.

36)DO NOTHING! Let them be alone in their thoughts. They need to be able to find peace and happiness without someone always being the initiator...despite their age and stay at home parents could use a dose of the same thing. Smile You do not have to constantly entertain. You do not always have to have something to do, in fact, doing so restricts and inhabits one’s ability to find tranquility, ponder, be alone in their thoughts, find self-fulfillment, and use imagination.

________________________________________________________

Instead of having a once a week culture *study* do it every other week or every three weeks or once a month...that way, there is something to look forward too and it won’t grow old. You could even invite others over for the *final day* and have an inexpensive theme based party. Grab those water balloons and water guns, whatever, and just enjoy.

That is all I can think of for now! LOL

6:02 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit -

Debate on Fox News...Home Schooling

2007-11-08T06:36:00.000-06:00

Click the link to view the five minute debate regarding regulating home schoolers to make sure they are teaching *liberal* values debate: http://search2.foxnews.com/search?access=p&getfields=*&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AS%3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=my_frontend&filter=0&site=video&proxystylesheet=my_frontend&q=home%20schooling

This bothers me on soooo many levels. Even though I vehemently disagree with religion, I've known many strict Conservative Christians whose children are extremely intelligent regardless of curriculum being used. Their children have gone off to college or are working now and *successful* (whatever the heck that means...which varies from person to person). One very religious woman that I know has a son, 15 years old, that is taking Calculus classes at PJC. They are YEC's but I know for a fact that they are being taught evolution...be it a very one-sided teaching of it though and yes, they are being taught that women are subservient and all that jazz...but, regardless, most are receiving the basics and more.

At issue as well, is the fact that they are leaving out an entire growing segment of home schoolers...secularists, like myself. I went through the Public School system and as far as evolution is concerned, it is not by any way taught in-depth. In my possession now are several high school and middle school texts that I picked up from a book depot in Milton for free...evolution is BARELY touched upon!

I felt like Mercedes was speaking through her rear-end with comments about home schooled children being *isolated* and unable to adapt to society, what a freakin' crock. As though no children in public schools have problems in society, or as if every public schooled child is outgoing and extroverted. Puhleaze! Same goes for home schooled children, many are extroverted and outgoing, some aren't...big deal. I suggest that anyone who thinks home schooled children are somehow unable to adapt come to a home school gathering and watch the children interact with each other. When we go somewhere in which there are children that mine haven't met? They don't stand their shivering in fear of interacting with other children, and they do not lack conversational skills either.

As far as learning exactly what children in public school are learning, well, I disagree with that also and do not feel that anyone should be told what they have to teach their children. Education is not something that only the schools can provide, nor should learning be limited to textbooks...many of which are dull, dry, and boring. Personally we use a lot of *living* books, the internet, television, conversations, etc. to *educate* our children.

Yes, there are probably some parents out there doing their children a disservice BUT, until the public schools clean up their act, proponents of them have no right to point their fingers at home schoolers and tell them what they should be doing/teaching. Many children in public schools are left behind, and coming out of them barely literate. The drop-out rate for Blacks and Mexicans is astounding at 45%-50%. A few months ago Newsweek or one of the major news magazines had an article regarding how college freshman have to be TAUGHT how to think for crying out lout. Perhaps they should be more concerned with that than with meddling in the home schooling community.

I am so thankful that in Florida, we can pretty much decide for ourselves what and how to teach our children without "Big Daddy" watching over us.

"You Cannot Teach A Seed To Grow"

2007-09-22T15:21:00.001-05:00

was a verse from the song Ordinary Miracle, that struck me in such a way this morning that I had to stop housework to come and blog real quick.

This is how children (and ALL humans) should and need to be treated, like seeds. There are TONS of various seeds in the world that blossom into a grand and vast array of trees, grasses, flowers, vegetables, fruits, etc. All are seeds but each is unique and different and has its own contribution to make to the earth on which we live. Somewhere along the line, humans have tried to force other humans into being the kind of seed that they want them to be, i.e...a rose instead of a dandelion or a red oak instead of a maple or St. Augustine grass instead of crabgrass. No matter how much you'd like for that dandelion to be a rose, it isn't going to happen, but what will happen is the following: the dandelion will wither and shrivel up because instead of giving it what it needed, it was made to feel bad for NOT being the rose you wanted it to be. Either that or it will become a miserable rose longing for the dandelion it was meant to be.

Seeds need nourishment, protection, water, fertilizer, and freedom to grow...just as children need to be nourished, loved, protected and given freedom to grow. IMHO, the world would be a far nicer and happier place if more people were allowed to be who they are inside, instead of being forced into something that they are not.

Did you know that concern about where public education was headed...was a concern a century ago?

2007-09-18T15:29:00.000-05:00

Anne Sullivan (teacher of Helen Keller)"I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education. They seem to me to be built upon the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think. Whereas if the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less slowly. Let him come and go freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself, instead of sitting indoors at a little round table while a sweet-voiced teacher suggests that he build a stone wall with his wooden blocks, or make a rainbow out of strips of colored paper, or plant straw trees in flower pots. Such teaching fills the mind with artificial associations that must be got rid of before the child can develop independent ideas out of actual experiences."

Margaret Mead (Anthropologist)"My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so she kept me out of school."

Albert Einstein "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year...It is nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail."

Charlotte Mason (19th Century British Educator)"Our aim in education is to give a full life. We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests. Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking - the strain would be too great - but, all living; that is to say, we should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest."

"The child must think, get at the reason-why of things for himself, every day of his life, and more each day than the day before. Children and paents both are given to invert this educational process. The child asks Why? and the parent answers, rather proud of this evidence of thought in his child.There is some slight show of speculation even in wondering Why? but it is the slightest and most superficial effort the thinking brain produces. Let the parent ask Why? and the child produce the answer, if he can. After he has turned the matter over in his mind, there is no harm in telling him - and he will remember it - the reason why. Every walk should offer some knotty problem for the children to think out - Why does that leaf float on the water, and this pebble sink? and so on"

Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Poet and Essayist)"The secret of education is respecting the pupil."

Dividing Polynomials...Hooray!

2007-08-30T14:52:00.000-05:00

As a home educating mother, it is crucial that I understand how to do algebra and higher math so that I can help my children if they need it. I haven't had algebra since the ninth grade and that is as far as I went (well, Geometry but I sucked at the time). Anyhow, we've been using Ray's Arithmetic for my son, he wanted to go straight to algebra and so following his lead, we did. We were flying right along until we hit division of polynomials by polynomials. The directions in this classic math program are a bit hard to comprehend at times.

I was troubled because I couldn't "get it"; my son couldn't either. After a few days I gave up, ready to purchase another algebra curriculum; however, I woke up this past Saturday morning with a clear head and thought to myself, "I can do those problems." First I went and reviewed algebra for addition, subtraction, and multiplication...that was all it took. I knew these rules below already but was so intimidated by this type of division that I had a brain fart. I had forgotten that when you get ready to subtract, you MUST change the signs to the opposite. For instance, if my product (the answer to my multiplication portion) has + and/or - before any letter (with or without exponents), I need to change those signs when I go to subtract, i.e if my product was +7a5-6a2x, I need to change it to -7a5+6a2x and then subtract. Also worth noting are the basics: When multiplying a opposite signs, i.e +/- the product is negative, when multiplying two negatives; the product is a positive, when multiplying two positives; the product is positive. The same for rules apply for dividing. I had to also remember to SUBTRACT the exponents when dividing and ADD exponents when multiplying.

When dividing polynomials, you divide the first term in the dividend, by the first term of the divisor. After you achieve your partial quotient, you multiply that by the entire polynomial divisor. Line up letters and exponents that match and subtract. If *zero* hasn't been achieved you then bring down any remainders (I like to bring down all leftover terms from the original dividend so that I keep everything straight) and divide only the first term in the difference of the dividend brought down. You keep going until you reach Zero.

That said, I wanted to show my work for the following problem:

Divide a5-5a4x+10a3x2-10a2x3+5ax4-x5 by a2-2ax+x2

I did like 15 problems after figuring out how to do these and now I am able to help my son. It feels really good to know that although I'm 37, I'm capable of being self-taught on math that I thought I'd never have to remember (formula wise, we technically use algebra all the time, we just don't know the specific terms and formulas). :-)

Mentos and Diet Coke Eruption

2007-08-15T14:58:00.000-05:00

Zak had a pretty good eruption when he added Mentos (tm) "The Freshmaker" candies into a 2-liter of Diet Coke. Our fence is about 6ft. high to give you an idea of just how high the Diet Coke shot-up!

Carnival of Homeschooling for the Week of March 4, 2007

2007-03-04T10:06:00.000-06:00

This weeks Carnival of Homeschooling will be held at Tammi's Blog be sure to check it out.

Fun with physics

2007-03-04T06:27:00.000-06:00

Last week we began using the curriculum from Bite-Size Physics, and have been not only learning but having a great time doing so. Mr. Mueller's first lesson is about the Scientific Method and is presented that in such a way that I can only hope that children are being taught this in the schools because if they were, they'd never forget the five steps: observation, hypothesis, test, collect data and report results. Jim teaches that we do the steps involved in the Scientific Method (the steps, not necessarily a scientific experiment) just in everyday life. For instance (following used by Jim Mueller): You want to write something down and you *observe* that you need a pencil. You then *hypothesize* where one can be located and perhaps a drawer comes to mind. The next step is to *test* your hypothesis which is done by going to the drawer. When you open the drawer to look you are *collecting data* (i.e. whether or not there is indeed a pencil in the drawer). If one is not found, you *report results* to someone that there are not any pencils. However, if one is found then your result is that self evident.

I truly believe that if children understood from early on that not only are they using these steps daily but also using physics everyday (i.e. when riding a bike and determining when to brake, turn, etc.), that they wouldn't be so intimidated by science, KWIM? If children were allowed to experiment the majority of the time, instead of trying to memorize a bunch of facts, science would more than likely become loved, fun and exciting for many people. However, if like me, many of these children are trying to learn from dry texts and always watching the teacher/parent do the experiments...they'll probably have a bad taste in their mouth for science just like myself and many others who have went through the system. Funny, took me into my late 30's to actually find science enjoyable and fun. Thank goodness for home educating or I'd still probably not have found that out. Then again, some children (despite being schooled) LOVE science so much that not even having a monotone teacher for an instructor can deter them from advancing in science and thats great.

Now, onto the main subject...We've had fun with our experiments this past week and Z and B have a firm grasp on the steps involved with the scientific method. Last night they didn't even have to use the mnemonic device for remembering the steps, which Mr. Mueller presents in his materials as: "Orange Hippos take classes regularly."

Our first experiment, The Underwater Presidents, involved seeing how many drops of water a penny could hold on both the heads and tails side. The children observed their coins and droppers and hypothesized how many drops they thought that the penny could hold and wrote that down. Next they tested by dropping water. Z did tried three times on heads and three times on tails and B did four tries for each side. They then collected their data by making a chart showing the coin used, what side was used, and how many drops per side and then averaged. They reported their results to me. The highest Z had was over 20 drops and the same for B...how many can you get? Please feel free to share your findings!

Next we did the Diabolical Diaper Experiment using the Scientific Method (I forgot the camera). Anyway their guesses were spot on for the smaller diaper...both held 2 1/2 cups of water. The brand was Parent's Choice for babies 16-28 pounds. However, the larger diaper by White Cloud held about 5 cups.

Our next project was Balancing the Bird and I'd say that this was the funnest of all the experiments. Using card stock, you draw a variety of bird like shapes with a beak, placing a dot on where the beak will rest on your finger. After that, you start your observation and take note of the weight and shape of your bird, and paper clips. Then, you guess and mark where you think that you need to put your paper clips in order for the bird to balance (via beak) on your finger tip. This is tested by trying and either succeeding or not. You can make a mental or paper note on what worked and what didn't and then report your results via telling, writing or showing your results. As you'll see below we had much success...and our 9yo dd B had fun for over 1 1/2 hours playing with these birds. 12yo Z made his, had success, but was finished upon achievement, lol.

**B had tried four birds previously that didn't work and she credits her success in the picture below to the fact that it worked because she colored and designed her bird...lol

Next week we will be learning about constant and changing variables using makeshift pendulums with various weights, I cant wait. :-)

A Homeschooling Pet Peeve...

2007-01-15T09:15:00.000-06:00

It absolutely drives me insane when people within the homeschooling communities bereat anyone who disagrees with their views. I'm seeing this more and more in the homeschooling community which is why I refrain from claiming to be anything but a relaxed homeschooler. You won't find a discussion group on the proper way to *relax homeschool* because there aren't any. No board of relaxed home educators who will argue with you telling you that you are not really *relax homeschooling* because you aren't following some big name in the relaxed homeschooling movement. For the most part, I am to each his own, whatever is working for you is great.

Carnival of Homeschooling

2007-01-14T17:52:00.000-06:00

The Carnival of Homeschooling is off to a great start in 2007! This week's Carnival is being held at Dewey's Treehouse so be sure to check it out.

Now They Hate It....

2007-01-14T06:44:00.000-06:00

It's official, both of my children no longer enjoy their once a week blended school. They are bored, bored, bored to the point of not wanting to go next year despite seeing their friends. This was supposed to be a hands-on-experience type of school and they aren't receiving any. The teachers tell everyone what to write on their papers and the teachers are the ones doing all the experiments. Recess? No recess for the entire 6 hours of school and their gym class is run by a not so nice woman who likes to hollar. Their favorite teachers at the beginning of the year have now went down the ladder as they aren't as nice and friendly anymore, as our 8yo dd puts it, "Mom, its like they were just nice when we were new and now that we aren't anymore, they aren't as nice."

I told the kids, "Well, at least you get to see your friends." That doesn't matter they say because... "There is no free time and you aren't allowed to talk in class." When talking does happen in class it is usually about the subject matter (which I understand) but the kids are not even given a break for the entire day.

Well, if anything, their blended school experience has definately put a bad taste in their mouths for school-school, as neither can imagine doing that 5 days a week. I told them that in public school you do get a couple of recesses but that didn't matter, they were both like, "Yeah, but only about 40 minutes...big deal."

What a Beautiful Day...(one minor incident)

2006-08-29T18:42:00.000-05:00

Ah, the freedom that home educating allows ones family is one of the absolute best parts of choosing this lifestyle. One needn't be a millionaire (we certainly aren't...not even a hundredthousandaire's!) to enjoy the beauty that Nature provided each and every day. Days in which to drink in the suns rays, adore various creatures and best of all, each other.

We left out around 8:15 this morning and headed over to Perdido Key State Park. It was so beautiful and peaceful and the waves were fun to play in without the danger of rip currents. We body surfed, found shells, saw several blue crabs, a small jelly, plenty of birds and two dolphin...and hence we've reached the minor incident! I am utterly terrified of sharks. Zak was about waist deep and Brooke and I were closer to the shore when I saw a fin pop out of the water, well I panicked "Get out of the water! Shark! Shark!" The whole time Zak is saying, "Mom, it isn't a shark, it is a dolphin." I didn't care, I saw the fin and that was that. I saw that no one was in danger and was screaming "Get the camera, get the camera!" While trying to stay with the fin, which were now two fins and I knew then we were dealing with dolphins. To make a long story short, Brooke's awesome "Rat" innertube was lost to the Gulf of Mexico because during the panic, the waves had grabbed hold of it and Zak was trying to hurry and get me the camera. Anyway, I felt terrible and promised Brooke a new innertube.

After the "incident" we still had a wonderful time and here are some samples of our awesome morning at the beach:

Morning at the Park and Swimming to Cool Off and Zak Bakes

2006-08-28T19:25:00.000-05:00

We've decided to postpone our lessons until the afternoon because it is so very hot and humid lately and so this morning, we headed over to the new Perdido Key Kids Park. Whew! It mattered not that we went early it was still extremely hot and humid but not nearly as bad as it gets in the afternoon. Thankfully, we brought plenty of water. The children and I played Hide-n-Seek and they wore me out but we had a great time. After about an hour we headed back home for some fun in the pool. Our pool time consisted of throwing a football, jumping into the water all at the same time, noodle races, and more.

After we ate lunch the children went ahead with their lessons. They continually amaze me with their ability to learn all the while I keep in mind "not to step in as teacher, they ARE capable of learning on their own". Rarely am I called upon to answer a question and we do enjoy reading aloud together from some of their readings. It is the being there that is important but let me tell you...from reading with them and/or scanning their quality books to be read, I have learned more than I ever did in all of my schooled years. I'm thankful to be able to give my children a liberal education, one that will prepare them for college (should they desire to go)and one that puts them in direct contact with living books and living ideas.

Later that early afternoon Zachary made his first batch of brownies (no help from me whatsoever). :-) It was funny because he had chocolate all over his fingers and then the spoon and of course the beaters. He called his sister out to 'clean' off the spoon and beaters and I kid you not...I'm surprised we had brownies at all because I think they ate more than Zak put in the pan...LOL But man, they were delicious! Way to go Zak!

The above pictures were taken Saturday at the same park by DH. And what a fabulous family day that was... :-)

Wife Swap Rant...

2006-08-26T04:48:00.000-05:00

Why I tune into this show when they have a family of home schoolers is beyond me because it does nothing but piss me off. Of all the home schoolers I know and have known, NONE have locked their children up from the world and I've known people on all sides (meaning from the fundamentalist to the radical non-christian unschooler). I'm sure that the public is well aware that Wife Swap and other 'reality shows' arrange shows in a way that will stir up controversy (which apparently people love) but home schoolers already have a negative stereotype due to ignorance on the part of opponents. Far be it for Wife Swap, to focus on home schoolers who actually get their children out, whose children are happy and getting along, whose children are taken to visit friends and have friends visit, who are in an activity or two, etc. However, it wouldn't stir ratings when they show how the majority of us are, despite what homeschooling philosphy or style the home educating family is using. Sadly, they will continue to portray the extremist homeschoolers and therefore continue feed the stereotype that that is how the majority of homeschoolers are.

Reality shows, love em' or hate em', are no where close to being reality. In reality, we don't swap spouses (well unless you're swingers), aren't put on islands for 31 days with complete strangers, don't cross countries with no money, don't have four women dating one guy the same night at the same time, etc. I cannot stand reality shows but just flicking through the channels gives me enough information to make a rational judgement...they are garbage. Everytime I have ever stopped on one, I find myself wishing that I could get those wasted minutes back.

They had a Ball....

2006-08-24T16:45:00.000-05:00

The children had a ball today at their first day of blended school. They'll be going once a week. The whole day was hands on physical science done through; art, drama, writing, etc. Recess and lunch and of course a snack break helped the fun of the day as well. Both made many new friends, and Zak had the attention of some females...lol

I'm so thankful that my children have a choice on what they want to do with their education. So many public/private schooled and home schooled children do not have such an opportunity, many ask their parents to be home-schooled but they are told, "No" with really no good reason why. Same for many hard core home schoolers, their children want other learning opportunities or to get out and their parents do not allow them to try.

Donnie came home for lunch to spend some time with me and we had a super time... ;-) It was strange not having the children here and I admit, lonely for me earlier on but I'm just happy that they are happy.

Boy, I am sure to get a lot of put off decluttering done on Thursdays now...probably a good thing seeing how Christmas is just around the corner.

My Favorite Lyrics...

2006-08-23T09:56:00.001-05:00

This song and it's lyrics are so powerful to me and our daughter loves the song as well. Positive music in the pop world and ones that aren't about having sex are often few and far between and that makes me all the more fond of this young lady, Natasha Bedingfield, for not following the crowd and standing out on her own.

Unwritten
Lyrics
Artist(Band):Natasha Bedingfield

I am unwritten,
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten Oh

Oh, oh

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way oh, oh
(back to staring......)

A Shameless Plug for Home and Natural Remedies

2006-08-23T06:57:00.000-05:00

We have been so fortunate to have read over the years books regarding natural and alternative healing. There are many things that I do not know and remedies that we have not tried but I'm going to start keeping tabs via this site about ones we have used that work....

Zachary has had an ear infection this past week and so I pulled out a trusted remedy that we had used on Brooke and myself within the past year. I boiled about a half cup of olive oil, turned down the heat, added 5 cloves of smashed garlic and cooked on low for five minutes. After the tincture has cooled, I poured it into a dropper bottle and administered one drop two times daily. His infection has already started to clear and we'll continue this for the next seven days.

Last year Zachary had some sort of skin-colored inflammed rash on his left inner elbow. It never really bothered him so I forgot that it was there sometimes. However, a couple of months ago it started to irritate him so off to the doctor we went. The physicians assistant, sweet as she was, never told us what this rash on his arm was; she just wrote a prescription and to put the ointment on twice daily for one week. I was kicking myself later after we used it because the possible side-effects listed were horrible...one including sterililty in males! Of course, by the time I read those we had already been using the medication. It cleared the bumpy and inflammed rash up but now the inflammed rash is back again and this time it was really annoying. I knew that we'd only get hit with another round of antibiotics and doctor bill so I decided it was time to go with natural healing...again. Yesterday I purchased a small bottle of Source Naturals Ultra Colloidal Silver Spray , Boericke & Tafee Florasone (R) Cardiospermum Cream and a bottle of blueberry flavored Acidiphilos (so as to introduce good bacteria). I sprayed the colloidal silver on his arm and allowed to dry, gave in one acidiphilous tablet, and then we followed with the cream and guess what??? Already the bumpy rash has gone down significantly and there are no 'possible' horrid side effects. I wouldn't be surpised if he was cleared up by Friday and we'll continue the treatment until next Wednesday.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and instead of going on pain medications and disease altering meds that have a list of nasty possible side-effects I've chosen to go (within reason)to a vegan diet and combined with 3 glasses daily each of 1tb of cider vinegar combined with 1tsp. of honey and 1tsp blackstrap molasses. First though, I did a week long fast as in the book Prescription for Dietary Wellness, that immediately relived pain and swelling. After that I started my path to vegetarian/vegan. There have only been mild flare ups and they ONLY happen when I have run out of proper foods and have had to eat what I shouldn't because we've had something happen over the pay period that cost extra and therefore I wasn't able to buy my foods. Other than that, and even despite that, I have not had to use any type of pain reliever be it over-the -counter or prescribed. I've learned so much, for instance...did you know that pineapple is a natural anti-inflammatory? :-) Two book recommendations are Cure Arthritis the Drug Free Way and also Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weightloss. To date, I have lost 23 pounds since June as a result of a healthy diet and regular exercise.

I'm very thankful to live in a country with such advanced medicines and technology, however, I think it is sad that those in the medical community are so much more apt to offer man-made medicines instead of the ones that have worked for centuries...they have thrown out the baby with the bathwater. There is not one good reason that natural and dietary remedies shouldn't be offered as a first treatment option, NOT ONE.

Chess and a Nice Weekend.....

2006-08-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

Zachary has a great passion for the game of Chess. We bought him a beautiful wooden chess board with hand-carved pieces for his birthday. He has beaten his father and I many times over the past few weeks and he only gets better. We rented Searching for Bobby Fisher this past weekend and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. When it was finished I of course noticed that at the end it gave an update on Josh Waitzkin, the story of whom the movie was about. How cool to learn that not only did he become a proficient and champion chess player but that he is awesome at martial arts as well and guess who else is interested in the martial arts? LOL Yep, our son. ;-)

This past weekend was very nice and relaxing. Saturday Donnie, the kids and I spent lounging by the pool and playing together. On Sunday, we had some friends and their children over for a visit, swimming and dinner. I believe that we all need weekends like that where you just do 'nothing'. Families need more time like that for just chilling out with not a care in the world for the lawn, or the weeds, or cleaning; they need it to just be. To be at one with nature, at one with their families and at one with their spirit.